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Re: So, whatcha reading?

Originally Posted by jtc24

Just started "Beyond Blame" by black conservative Armstrong Williams. He was a guest with Mike McConnell on WLW four or five years ago, and I'm just now getting around to reading his book that was discussed that day. It's a very revealing perspective of the problems that confront black folks in America today. I doubt those organizing the current boycots in Cincinnati would like what he has to say, though. So far I'm intrigued.

I wonder how much he was paid by the Bush Administration (and by the taxpayers) to say it? :allovrjr:

Re: So, whatcha reading?

I am about a quarter through Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series. I'm on The Mauritius Command right now. Without a doubt, this is some of the best historical fiction, ever. O'Brian researched 18th century battles from original Royal Navy reports. His writing on seamanship is so good, you would think he spent his life aboard a fighting ship, when in fact he never sailed once.

Re: So, whatcha reading?

Right now, I'm reading "Lies My History Teacher Told me" by James Loewen. It's immensely interesting...barely one chapter in and I've learned that Helen Keller was an avowed far-left Socialist who supported Lenin, and Woodrow Wilson was an unabashed racist who invaded Russia and enacted some of the most invasive and anti-civil rights legislation since the Alien and Sedition acts of 1789.

Just finished reading "In a Sunburned Country" by Bill Bryson, who took some time to travel through Australia and then, well, wrote about it. Interesting tidbit that I learned: in the 1960s, Australia had a Prime Minister named Harold Holt who went for a swim one morning and simply disappeared. He was never heard from again. Bryson makes two interesting points on that:

1- That such an event could even happen, and
2- That practically no one, in Australia or otherwise, even knows about it.

Great read, particularly if you have any interest in the land Down Under.

Re: So, whatcha reading?

Originally Posted by registerthis

Right now, I'm reading "Lies My History Teacher Told me" by James Loewen. It's immensely interesting...barely one chapter in and I've learned that Helen Keller was an avowed far-left Socialist who supported Lenin, and Woodrow Wilson was an unabashed racist who invaded Russia and enacted some of the most invasive and anti-civil rights legislation since the Alien and Sedition acts of 1789.

Just finished reading "In a Sunburned Country" by Bill Bryson, who took some time to travel through Australia and then, well, wrote about it. Interesting tidbit that I learned: in the 1960s, Australia had a Prime Minister named Harold Holt who went for a swim one morning and simply disappeared. He was never heard from again. Bryson makes two interesting points on that:

1- That such an event could even happen, and
2- That practically no one, in Australia or otherwise, even knows about it.

Great read, particularly if you have any interest in the land Down Under.

I've read both of those in the past two years and enjoyed them. If you're looking for good light reading, Bryson's travel books are both fun and educational.

"I fought because I understood and could not bear to understand, that it was my destiny -- unlike that of my father, whose fate it was to hear the roar of the crowd -- to sit in the stands with most men and acclaim others. It was my fate, my destiny, my end, to be a fan."

Re: So, whatcha reading?

Currently re-reading Middlemarch by George Eliot. A 19th century classic, which was required reading for me several years ago. As predicted, it reads much better now that I'm older and am reading of my own volition. Eliot was just a phenomenal writer...blows me away how good she was.

Also reading:

Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt. Pulitzer Prize Finalist in 2004 and an interesting look at Shakespeare's life and work taken together.

No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith by Fawn M. Brodie. Originally written in 1945 and still one of the better American biographies. Yes, Mormonism, like all other major religions is based on a fairy tail.

The Ginger Man by J.P. Donleavy. Hilarious tail of Donleavy's anti-hero, Sebastian Dangerfield. And one of the Top 100 English language novels of the 20th century. Additionally, named in the recent Hunter S. Thompson pre-suicide Playboy interview as one of his all-time favorites.

"I fought because I understood and could not bear to understand, that it was my destiny -- unlike that of my father, whose fate it was to hear the roar of the crowd -- to sit in the stands with most men and acclaim others. It was my fate, my destiny, my end, to be a fan."

Re: So, whatcha reading?

No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith by Fawn M. Brodie. Originally written in 1945 and still one of the better American biographies. Yes, Mormonism, like all other major religions is based on a fairy tail.

The definitive book according to Jon Krakauer.

I'm currently reading:

Under the Banner of Heaven

Reefer Madness : Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market by Eric Schlosser

Re: So, whatcha reading?

I just finished
Shalimar the clown by Salman Rushdie
I am currently reading
The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw
and
Mourinho, Anatomy of a winner by Patrick Barclay
and
Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
and waiting to read The Sea by John Banville
and
Russia under the Old Regime by Richard Pipes

Re: So, whatcha reading?

Re: So, whatcha reading?

Originally Posted by westofyou

The definitive book according to Jon Krakauer.

I'm currently reading:

Under the Banner of Heaven

WOY,
That's pretty much how I was lead to it. I read Under the Banner of Heaven a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. I filed the Fawn Brodie biography of Joseph Smith away as a book to pick up later...mostly because Krakauer was so impressed with it.

I was interested to see the reviews of Krakauer at the time, and that led me to some reviews on Brodie's biography. The reviews of Brodie & Krakauer pretty much went like this:

Strict Mormons: hated them both and couldn't believe the lack of faith and the utter disrepect shown towards Joseph Smith and the one true religion.

Any other educated human being: very impressed with both books and appreciative of the light shone on fundamentalism in general and the Morman faith specifically.

"I fought because I understood and could not bear to understand, that it was my destiny -- unlike that of my father, whose fate it was to hear the roar of the crowd -- to sit in the stands with most men and acclaim others. It was my fate, my destiny, my end, to be a fan."

Re: So, whatcha reading?

Originally Posted by Crash Davis

WOY,
That's pretty much how I was lead to it. I read Under the Banner of Heaven a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. I filed the Fawn Brodie biography of Joseph Smith away as a book to pick up later...mostly because Krakauer was so impressed with it.

"Under the Banner..." is sitting on my coffee table and is next on my reading list. Personally, I quite like the idea of a religion founded by a man who has Magic Glasses.

Re: So, whatcha reading?

"Under the Banner..." is sitting on my coffee table and is next on my reading list. Personally, I quite like the idea of a religion founded by a man who has Magic Glasses.

"Magic Underpants!"

I think that's the cartoon version of his life.

"I fought because I understood and could not bear to understand, that it was my destiny -- unlike that of my father, whose fate it was to hear the roar of the crowd -- to sit in the stands with most men and acclaim others. It was my fate, my destiny, my end, to be a fan."

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